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I'm catching up on some reading, I know this from a few months back, but @Ron and Phyllis it's great to hear someone else enjoying the Elite I like we do. We use the beds the same way. We do use the side bed in a permanent setup like @David Purkey was considering. I hope that is working out well. We find we enjoy not having to setup/change the beds daily. And we have pillows that allow us to use either the back area as a lounge area for us both sitting up w/feet up and watch TV together. Or we have our "separate" areas and I'll use the dinette as my day-time lounge area with my wife in the rear. We have some nice sized lap trays we use for the few times we eat in the camper. We've had our trailer (Hull #36, third owners) for about 18 months and have found this to work out very well for us. We all have our own ways of course, but again it's nice to hear about some shared views too.

Under the rear street side bed, on the trailer frame, right next to the exterior faucet. I wanted to know if those plumbing fixtures were exposed to freezing temps. The lowest reading from my digital thermometer in that location was 38 degrees F, when the outside temp was 9 degrees F.

I played the trumpet as a kid...This story is also meaningful to me. Song link below... IL SILENZIO ...Beautiful and Haunting About six miles from Maastricht, in the Netherlands, lie buried 8,301 American soldiers who died in "Operation Market Garden" in the battles to liberate Holland in the fall/winter of 1944. Every one of the men buried in the cemetery, as well as those in the Canadian and British military cemeteries, has been adopted by a Dutch family who mind the grave, decorate it, and keep alive the memory of the soldier they have adopted. It is even the custom to keep a portrait of "their" soldier in a place of honor in their home. Annually, on "Liberation Day," memorial services are held for "the men who died to liberate Holland." The day concludes with a concert. The final piece is always "Il Silenzio," a memorial piece commissioned by the Dutch and first played in 1965 on the 20th anniversary of Holland's liberation. It has been the concluding piece of the memorial concert ever since. This year, the soloist was a 13-year-old Dutch girl, Melissa Venema, backed by André Rieu and his orchestra ( the Royal Orchestra of the Netherlands ).

This is just fun to listen to and, from what I've read, incredibly difficult to play on guitar. Watching anything Charlie Brown related as a kid brings back fond memories of my childhood.

Maybe I'll call truma Lakeland after the new year and see what they say. When our 15 year old suburban furnace dies, I'm really thinking we'd like the varioheat. I think it's an awesome upgrade.

If you define "extended period" as 6 days, our experience towing our new Elite II home from Hohenwald to Idaho in mid-November is instructive. We used the Varioheat furnace for 6 straight sub-freezing nights in Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Idaho, 4 of them above 4000' elevation. The overnight low on three of those nights was in the teens, and 9 degrees F once (in Colorado). The Varioheat adequately heated the cabin with the CP Plus wall control set at 68 degrees F, and more important to us, kept the underbelly of the trailer where the tanks and water lines run, above 38 degrees F. It ran almost constantly at night, which we suspect is because the trailer is not all that well insulated. It consumed about 1.5 gallons of propane per night. We figured that our two 5-gallon propane tanks allowed us to safely heat for 5 nights without refill. The exterior walls remained cold and sweated a bit, but we do not blame the furnace for that. That is to be expected where, unlike in a home, the supply air ducts are in the middle of the heated space, not along the walls. We remained warm enough (and both my wife and I like to sleep warm, so we used sleeping bags), but because we could not get very far away from the exterior walls when sleeping , we did not feel "cozy." We believe one reason the Varioheat furnace system kept the underbelly at least a few degrees above freezing is the addition of a return air vent from the bathroom to the open area under the front dinette seat. There has been extensive discussion on another thread suggesting that additional return air ducting from the cabin into the underbelly area will help improve Oliver furnace system performance. See: As my wife and I did not purchase the Oliver for winter use, we find the Varioheat furnace adequate for our needs. We do not believe it is undersized. We were just happy that it performed well enough to get us home in reasonable comfort, given our mid-November delivery date and the colder-than-average temps we encountered!

Having come into musical maturity listening to the Rock N' Roll of the late 50's and all through the 60's, I can attest that I've never been a Country music fan. By the mid 70's I was rather oblivious to what had become popular and I drifted thru the 80's and 90's really not paying much attention. One evening in mid 1999 as I was leaving to go home from work one of our technicians asked me if I had ever heard of a new internet site called Napster, I told him that I was not familiar with it and he explained that by using it, a person could (for free) download any song ever written. Being of a different ethnicity, I assured him that none of the music I would be interested in would be available there. Later, at home, I decided to look into the program. I downloaded the software, installed and then ran it. I don't remember the interface being too difficult asking only for an artist and song title. All of a sudden I could not think of a single song to download. Then I remembered one of my favorite songs from 1965, Bob Lind's Elusive Butterfly. I typed it in and hit enter. Almost immediately, a list of selections to choose from came up. I chose one and hit the download button. Well, this was still in the dial-up days of the internet and it took several minutes but it finally completely downloaded and I pressed play. Oh my goodness. It was at that second I had a sudden, intuitive perception or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, initiated by the simple, homely, and commonplace task of downloading of a file (or as some might say, an epiphany.) It was at that moment I realized I wanted more songs, in fact I wanted all of them. So began a quest to download and catalog every Billboard Hot 100 song from 1940 to 1999. It took me 10 years. I now love the songs from the 80's and can tolerate most of them from the 70's. The 90's not so much. With a few exceptions, I skip virtually all the songs of the last two decades. This is one of my exceptions...

I posted a couple of the same songs I already posted last year....Guess I like them a lot 🙂

You might not love classical music or classical guitar but I think you have to appreciate this kid's talent. I happen to love classical music. The acoustics are surprisingly good in his bathroom 🙂

Appropriate for reflecting on the past year, but a great song, any day, in my book.

Ron, Following up on the articulating table mount. Here is what I plan to install in "Coddiwomple" (Elite 1) when we get it next spring. With this setup we should be able to position the tabletop next to the stovetop and my wife is happy about that. It is a lagun-type removable table mount and seems to be very strong. The powdercoat finish is nice and the fit is tight. I contacted Foy and he can make a tabletop for us with the underside routed out to lighten it up so I will order that later when I dial in the final tabletop dimensions. Need to figure out support bracing and backing later. Might have to have a custom brace made so as not to stress the fiberglass. I purchased this from EZ-Reach (division of Cass Hudson) and spoke to the design engineer about my plan to add a second arm so I would have an elbow like movement rather than just one arm with an arc. He thought it was a good idea and would work so I ordered two of the 12" arms. I cut one tube down so it would fit in to the other and it works great. I extended it out all the way and put 20lbs on the table bracket - It is solid. Now I just need a trailer to install it in! David Purkey

Hi y'all. We left Hohenwald today and drove to David Crockett State Park. It towed great behind our 2017 Ford Expedition EL with heavy duty tow package. There were some steep (to my surprise) sections and it pulled OK. We will be going over the Rockies so that will be a good test. So far, I am very pleased with Oliver.

Amen to that! If we get at least 30 of us, can we buy the personal proofreader at wholesale?

I have used CB on the trails in CO, GMRS is becoming the de facto standard as they are easier to use and you can get hand-helds just about anywhere. I am also a licensed amateur (ham) operator and fully endorse getting a license if you plan to use GMRS. The use of the spectrum is gauged by how many people get licensed, not by how many people use it and that spectrum can be auctioned off making the service and all the radios go away. I mostly use VHF/UHF (2 meter and 70 cm) while mobile but carry an HF and antenna to communicate long-range while camping. There is an activity in the ham world called POTA (Parks on the Air) where people take radios to state and national parks and monuments and set up radios. Others call in and “log the park”. This does several things. It gives you a good idea of how far you can talk on your radio, what conditions are like that day and it generates a tremendous amount of interest in radio. The annual Oliver rally is held at a State Park! Does anyone ever talk radios/communications at the Rally? Would anyone be interested in a CB/GMRS/FRS/MURS/HAM discussion/demonstration?? I think this would be a great topic. Especially for those looking to caravan up to Canada (different rules) and Alaska. My Amateur Callsign is AF1US (Air Force 1 United States) - see you on the radio. Brian

I didn't realize that they would be able to see posts. Thank you. Happy New Year everyone!

Well, that's disappointing. Lakeland is 700 miles closer to me than Hohenwald.

I have my ham license but have a CB in the truck. Good for car-to-car if traveling with our friends (better range than FRS or MURS) and still good for getting road reports from truckers. Last summer we heard about a highway closure on CB before it was posted anywhere else and were able to take an alternate route before getting caught in the traffic jam.

Moral of the story - never take the word or advice of a salesman trying to sell you a truck or RV as to its true capacities or capabilities. Know your equipment. Educate yourself to what you will need in the real world conditions you plan to use the equipment. And most of all, always build in a margin of safety. It's never worth trying to find the breaking point of your equipment.

Understanding the Support Tickets How do I create a support ticket? All voicemails to phone support or parts & service automatically creates a support ticket in the proper department initiating a return call request. Keep in mind that we work through returning calls in the order they were received unless it is an emergency situation. All emails sent to support@olivertraveltrailers.com will automatically create a support ticket based on your emails subject line and it will automatically pull in your information as long as the email you used is in our system in your account. If you are submitting a new request, please send it as a new email not as a reply to an old email. This will help to speed up the response If you are contacting regarding an open/ongoing issue it is best to reply to the email chain and it will automatically flag the open current ticket for review and bump it up on our list. You can visit the Owners service page on our website or the forum main page and click the "Submit Ticket" button You can contact us via phone and the phone support personnel should create a ticket for you if one does not already exist. What to do if you have multiple issues? You can list all of your issues in a single ticket. If you choose this method, please list the issues in bullet format if possible to ensure all issues are captured properly. You can create an individual ticket for each issue if you prefer. Why was my ticket split into multiple tickets? We might split your ticket into multiple tickets for communication with the vendor or manufacturer of the component so that everything stays organized and we can work with the vendor to get the issue resolved as quickly as possible. Why were my tickets merged into a single ticket? We might merge multiple tickets into a single ticket when necessary: Multiple tickets but the same issue Similar issues Cause/Correction resolves multiple issues reported Example: Fridge does not work on AC power & A/C Inoperative where the cause was found to be an issue with the incoming shore power which means the true issue was "No 120v power". This is common as a camper equipped with an inverter could still be supplying power to the Microwave and Receptacles making it seem like 120v power was working. All issues are scheduled for service either here or at a 3rd party service center and should be resolved at one time under a single work order.

Based on what my neighbor paid to have his boat ceramic coated, I'd say your prices are very fair. Starting at is reasonable. It's a ton more work to bring back a base to an older trailer. Best of luck to you, and happy new year. We'll look for you at the rv Supershow in Tampa.

Thanks Steve, the tech and I tried it, but didn’t have a lot of room on top. We really put some muscle into and got no movement at all. We were really afraid we’d damage the gel coat or worse. May 2020 delivery.

Hello Ralph, They did not seem to have a problem removing the Dometic. There was one guy on top and another inside. Attached is a pic of the Dometic bottom side. There are a couple of thick foam pads with a thin sealer layer of what seems similar to butyl tape. I'm unsure if there was something else stuck to the trailer roof hole. The Oliver was delivered May 2021. It took them a little less than 3 hours to complete the job. Steve

I have started a new thread on Generators aimed at gathering info and thoughts from owners about their generators. Especially the new manufacturers out there now. GJ

Obvious question. Are you sure the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature set to a higher temperature than outside? You might want to consider buying a small electric heater to get by until the furnace is working.

All the very best for many safe miles and adventures! Welcome to the family! Patriot 🇺🇸

Nice work.

Me!! 🤣 When we sent in our first half check last week, Anita estimated that they will be about hull number 1361 by March 29th. We'll see how close she is in 139 days. 😉

Good luck and enjoy the process! Bill

I will be interested in seeing what you end up doing. We may go back and forth varying according to the situation. My wife has a neurocognitive disorder and often needs help when she gets up finding a light or if she wakes up and is confused or uncomfortable. I had hoped we might not wake each other as much with the bed across the back. Right now, it's not the case. I'm hoping this may change in time. We just got back from a couple of cold nights 29 and 32 degrees on top of Mt Pisgah NC on the Blue Ridge Pky. I decided, since we had no hookups and it is shaded and we needed to conserve batteries, that we would use the full bed. It worked well. I still like to lounge on the lowered side table down with the pillows to read or watch tv. We'll see. Just a comment, even with mostly shade, our batteries charged enough from the solar panels to run the fan on the furnace that I set at 60-62, use the water pump, and we used lights sparingly. We might have done ok one more day. I have a movable solar array also, but I could not get it to charge when plugged into the Zamp outlet. I'll have to work on this. On a previous trip, I had an issue with the battery door coming open 45 minutes down the road. A block on the door that attaches to a cable broke when it flew open from road vibration. The door would not stay closed. I had to tie the door shut until I could get home and repair. When home, on further inspection, I found the locking mechanism would not properly engage a nylon block mounted in the roof of the compartment. I removed the block and made it thicker by adding an aluminum plate to give more for the locking mechanism to strike against. Plus, the aluminum wouldn't score from the metal locking arm like the soft nylon. I opened a service ticket and Oliver sent me replacement blocks for the door and the roof. The nylon roof block was still just too thin so I used my thicker block with the aluminum plate. I think this means that either the door is just a little off or maybe the locking mechanism. I made some photos that I might post. It works fine now with my repair. I met an Elite II owner on that trip and showed him the broken blocks. We looked at his 2017 battery compartment and the roof block was made of solid aluminum instead of the nylon block in mine. Good luck on your delivery and I hope to hear from you again. Ron Williams

Another favorite. Love the lyrics.

So, I'm a few days late for "throwback Thursday. " Sunday night will have to do. Camping makes me feel younger, most of the time. Rod Stewart.

So, how about old (er) music Monday. https://youtu.be/MqmS961An4c

I have been a licensed ham radio since the 7th grade, 54 years ago. The repeater system works well, but I also have a CB mounted in the truck for 2 reasons. Ch 19, the trucker's channel, gives me road information. Ch 9 is the emergency channel used by various volunteer groups to monitor, well, emergencies. REACT monitors ch 9. Range is limited, frequently, depending upon atmospheric conditions. GMRS and FCS are also systems that are available, but every trucker has a cb. Language aside, there is much to be learned about extended road conditions. Other channels have specific purposes. So, yes I use a CB and consider it a communication safety device, albeit sometimes with limited range Ham radio gives me something to do while driving. Worldwide communications are regularly possible. It's fun. Something to do at a rainy campsite. John

We saw Lyle Lovett at a George Strait concert in Las Vegas a couple years ago. He’s eccentric but good.

David Gilmour, "High Hopes." An incredible song, and note Michael Kamen (RIP) on piano and Caroline Dale's cello. Such an evocative, moody, then soaring piece. I watch-listen to this fairly regularly. The choral group is amazing as well. Same with this one: "Coming Back to Life." There is a reason guitarists rank Gilmour way up at the top with EVH. At the 3:45 mark, well, speechless. He makes it look so easy. Diggin' bassist Chucho Merchán too. Whoa.

Can you say “contrasting style”? Fun to watch.

This is terrible news! I can’t help but think this is just Oliver flexing on the supplier so they can charge a huge premium on install. So instead of driving an hour to Elkhart, I can waste another $1k on the install and $1k on fuel to sit around for a couple days while the factory figures it out. NOT COOL OLIVER! Guess I’ll have to bribe a local shop to lie about what brand of trailer I have.

Steve, I’m guessing yours was the first Oliver Truma did. Mine was going to be the first, but was a failure. We couldn’t get old unit off. Did they have trouble getting your old unit off or if not, how did they do it?